Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 230 Cutting the Wheat

After the collective wedding, the morale of the people in Hezhong Fort has reached a new level.

The old residents got married and shared their houses, and the new Charuya, Guarani immigrants, and those British immigrants who fled from Cape Town also got a lot of benefits.

In view of the perfect ending of the northern sweep operation a while ago, after more than a week of intense counting and accounting, all the spoils of war have now been counted out.The operation lasted for two months. The East Bank troops with the South African Garrison as the core swept across the vast area north of the Berg River, south of the Great Salt Pond, east to the Dongshan, and west to the sea. More than ten indigenous tribes captured a total of more than [-] cattle, more than [-] sheep, ivory, fur, and grain, and captured more than [-] Khoisan reds and more than [-] Xhosa blacks. It can be described as huge.

For this reason, Mo Ming, as the captain of the South African pioneering team, signed a special amnesty decree, pardoning a large number of slave soldiers under the two banners and British fugitives who obeyed the command and fought bravely in this battle.These soldiers under the two banners not only obtained the status of free citizens and were promoted to the upper six banners, but also received a small number of assigned slaves as rewards.And those British fugitives were pardoned as free people on a large scale because of their outstanding performance in combat.They were different from the natives of the Eight Banners who had obtained the status of free citizens. The town government distributed some farm tools, seeds, cattle and sheep to them, and they were formally included in the residents system of Hezhongbao.

The newly immigrated South American aborigines also got some credit. The government gave each of them a cow, as well as some sorghum seeds, farm tools, etc., so that they can settle here and farm without worrying about it. A mess of dangerous thoughts.

After all these things are clarified, the time has come to May 5.On this day, the messengers on horses once again rushed into the camps of the Eight Banners camps stationed around the Fort in the River, and called the Eight Banners owners... er, no, the chiefs, deputy chiefs, and Kerals went to the city for a meeting.

The main topic of the meeting was how to harvest the wheat that the British had sown outside the castle of Good Hope.According to the information obtained from the investigation, the British reclaimed more than 800 acres of wheat fields near the water source outside the city in spring, and two British merchant ships brought a batch of agricultural tools and seeds specially for them, so that they could sow the seeds smoothly. This batch of wheat.Now more than eight months have passed, and it is almost time for the wheat to be harvested.If at this time, the grain that the British have worked so hard for a year is cut off first, then the British will probably be depressed to death.

It is said that since the last attack on the British in August last year, the Fort in the River and the British in the south have been at peace for several months.The British naturally don't have the energy to take the initiative to attack, while the people on the east coast are busy with things such as heavy city walls, house construction, spring planting, and sweeps, so they don't have time to deal with the half-dead British.

It has been a few months now, and the people on the east coast are basically busy with all the things at hand, and once again began to shift their attention to the British.The Fort of Good Hope in the Cape Town area has now been basically completed. The British paid a huge price for the construction of this unimposing castle and its attached dock facilities.The more than 600 immigrants who came here in the early days undertook extremely heavy physical labor in order to build the castle. Coupled with the lack of food, bad weather, epidemics of diseases, and continuous harassment by the aboriginals who took refuge in the East Coast, most of these immigrants Either flee, or die from indigenous attacks, or die from exhaustion, or die from cold and starvation.In short, up to now, there are only less than 500 British immigrants in this castle, and it can be said that the threat to the people on the east bank, which has become a climate in the Fort in the River, has basically been lifted.

However, the people on the east coast were not prepared to let them go so easily.It should be known that if you kill a tiger without killing it, there will be endless troubles.For this reason, after careful discussion, Mo Ming, Liu Ang and others decided to recruit a large number of Eight Banners native soldiers to go to the Fort of Good Hope area to attack the British castle and take the opportunity to snatch the wheat from the British outside the city.The British have less than 500 people in the castle, and there are only more than 300 adult men with combat effectiveness. As long as the number of Eight Banners soldiers is sufficient and equipped with certain weapons and equipment, the British may not dare to go out of the city to attack. The chance of success is still not small.

On May 5, the Aboriginals recruited from the Eight Banners assembled on the south bank of the Beige River and started to set off.This time, a total of 13 armored spearmen were recruited from each banner, and some Eight Banners gunners trained by people from the east coast accompanied them with ten artillery pieces.In addition to them, there were hundreds of slaves who served as coachmen and handymen to accompany the team.Xiao Baitu and others, who were dispatched to South Africa, followed far behind with cavalry, which had been expanded to more than [-] cavalry, and served as the role of supervisor on the battlefield.

On the morning of May 5, this large force quietly arrived at the outskirts of Fort Good Hope.The cavalry stayed at the periphery, and then the Eight Banners troops under the command of Sun Shengjun and others began to swagger towards the castle of Good Hope.

At this time, the Cape Town area is a good season for autumn and crisp, and it is also the harvest season.The British opened up more than 800 acres of land about a mile outside the city near the water source. Now the wheat planted on these fields has reached the harvest time. Looking around, the golden wheat waves are blowing one after another under the breeze. It looks so pleasing to the eye.

"Put up the cannon!" Sun Shengjun waved his hand. Behind him, an artilleryman, Krall (originally the name of the basic social unit of the Bantu people, has now evolved into the official position of the Eight Banners), bowed to his orders, and then trotted back to urge his men The artillerymen began to set up artillery positions.These Eight Banners artillerymen have usually received certain training from the people on the east coast. Considering that the British are equipped with a large number of muskets and a small amount of artillery, they are much stronger than the Eight Banners soldiers who are all cold weapons. The cannons were handed over to these native soldiers for use. Of course, these cannons were strictly inspected and returned after use. The people on the east coast have always strictly controlled the flow of firearms into the Eight Banners soldiers.

The Eight Banners soldiers made such a big move, as long as the British were not blind, they would definitely not be able to see it.In fact, as early as the Eight Banners soldiers began to set up artillery positions outside the city, all the British commanders in the Fort of Good Hope had already boarded the top of the city.Second Lieutenant Porter, who had insisted on leading his troops to defeat these barbarians, immediately shut his mouth when he saw the ten cannons in the distance. Other British officials also lost their voices for a moment. It seems that two of them are still powerful 12-pound guns. God, have you abandoned your people?

"These barbarians are very particular about the selection of artillery positions, which not only guarantees the frontal firepower, but also takes into account the side cross-destroy firepower. It is definitely an artillery position designed by a professional artillery officer. I don't think these stupid barbarians will be like this. They are so shameless!" Lieutenant Porter walked up and down the top of the city, fidgeting like a caged tiger.

The English militiamen in tattered clothes looked at him indifferently. The wheat fields outside the city were very important, but there was no need to fight with their lives.After all, there were so many cannons there, if they were all filled with shotguns, how many lives would it take to get close to those barbarians?What, do you expect those savages to be incapable of handling artillery?Don't be ridiculous, let whoever wants to go, anyway, just don't let me go to die!

Besides, the food reserves in the castle are not too scarce at present, is it necessary to work so hard?Only those nobles and officers and gentlemen will benefit from that, but we unlucky ghosts will die.Moreover, I recently heard a gossip that came from nowhere in the castle: In view of the domestic turmoil in the UK and the huge loss of more than 3 pounds for two years, the East India Company intends to transfer the Cape Town colony out .There are already some reports that the Dutch seem to be interested...

damn it!These gentlemen tricked us from the country, but now they want to leave.What's worse, they seem to want us to fight these savages now!Oh God, please punish these shameless people.

In the silence of the British militiamen, Second Lieutenant Porter, who lost his temper alone for a long time, seemed to realize something.He sighed heavily, then left here and walked towards the two artillery emplacements on the top of the city.Since the soldiers are unwilling to go out of the city to fight back, they can only let the four artillery on the top of the city fight back against these barbarians.

The Eight Banners soldiers outside the city didn't know what the British were thinking at this time. They were still digging bunkers against the clock to install the cannons under the urging of the Krall officers' whips; and those armored spearmen were also under the strict military law. Sparse formations of skirmishers were lined up, ready to deal with the British militiamen who left the city.And beside them, hundreds of slaves had already entered the British wheat field with sickles and carts, and began to harvest the wheat that was almost fully mature in the field.

These slaves were told in advance that the top 100 people who harvested the most wheat and their families would be pardoned and become free citizens, promoted to the Six Banners, and became the top people from then on.As soon as this order came out, the slaves scrambled into the wheat field and began to harvest the wheat with their heads covered. After each bundle was cut, they trotted all the way to the cart, handed the wheat to the driver, and then received a cloth certificate with writing on it (in the following Proof that he himself has delivered a sheaf of wheat).After the slaves collected the certificates, they rushed back to the wheat field again, and continued to harvest the wheat quickly. The efficiency was so high that the officers and soldiers on both sides of the battlefield were dumbfounded when they saw it.

(End of this chapter)